Reported by Tod Shapiro for the Flatiron Hot! News

The 23rd Street and 6th Avenue Station has been closed for renovations since last July, and all of us in Flatiron and Chelsea have been detouring to other stops, and eagerly awaiting the reopening of the station.  That is especially true for us at NYC Seminar and Conference Center and the Flatiron Hot! News, as many of us come in from parts of the city further afield, as well as the Conference Center’s patrons, who can step off the platform and come right into our offices at 71 West 23rd St. to attend their events.

The new station looks great – it’s clean, open and airy, with all the detritus and accumulated fixes of past years swept away, to open up easy sight lines to the trains.  Perhaps the best new addition to the station is the digital signs, announcing to subway denizens the arrival time of the coming trains!  In fact, they have one right outside the stairwells, so you can see – from the street – your chances of catching the next train.  And there are some excellent examples of subway art, as well as some nifty pictures and collages of the many landmarks that dot our Flatiron and Chelsea neighborhood.  The well known artist, William Wegman, internationally exhibited and famous for his use of dogs as subject matter in his work, has contributed some striking subway mosaics, including one striking piece of a canine in pajamas.  Just the sort of whimsical touch that our gritty subway stations need to lift our spirits!

Kudos to the MTA for completing this on time and on schedule, and all of us hope that this is a harbinger of better things to come for the beleaguered subway riders in our ever-growing city.  Take a quick peek on your way to your next event at the Conference Center.